Living By Faith

GOD PERFORMS THINGS FOR YOU

For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. (Job 23:14)

The champion enters the ring with a different attitude than the challenger.

Mark Hankins

Theologians tell us that the trials we read about in Job lasted less than a year. Job had a bad year, but when you read the last chapter, you find that the Lord gave him twice as much as he had before! Job had some challenges, but he came out the champion!

TheLordsaidittomethisway: “You will have challenges in life, but you are not the challenger; you are the champion. The challenger is trying to get something. The champion, on the other hand, says, “Ive got something.Every champion faces challengers who try to steal their victory. Satan is the god of this world who does nothing but lie, destroy, and steal. He’s a challenger, but a defeated one!

Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation [difficulty]: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) You aren’t exempt from challenges. However once you know who you are in Christ, and understand that Christ is in you, you will always overcome. Satan may cause some issues, but like Job, you can smile and say, “God performs things for me!”

Confession: I have the attitude of a champion!  In every challenge, I am an overcomer because Christ overcame the world and He dwells in me!  (John 16:33)

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SEE YOURSELF IN CHRIST

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 

(Ephesians 4:23-24)

If you keep looking into the Word, it will save, deliver, and heal your soul.

Mark Hankins

How do you become a doer of the Word? You look into the mirror of the Word, which James calls “the perfect law of liberty.  God can tell you over and over what He has done for you in Christ but as long as you continue to see yourself as a failure, unrighteous, unworthy, defeated, sick, or poor, you will stay in that condition. When you look into the perfect law of liberty, there is a reflection and you see yourself in Christ. You see what God has done for you in Christ and suddenly, you see yourself free!

When you get up in the morning, look up about ten “in Christ” scriptures. Then look in the mirror and acknowledge them. When you have a lunch break, open your Bible. If you have a fifteen-minute break, open your Bible. This is what it takes to be blessed.

Look in the mirror–the perfect law of liberty. When you look into the mirror of the Word, it will make you free. One translation says, “Look and keep on looking!”

Confession: I have been given exceeding great and precious promises in Gods Word. I have His divine nature!

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REDEMPTION: AN EVERLASTING RELEASE

Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:6)

Christianity does not begin with something you do, but with something that has been done for you in Christ.

Mark Hankins

Faith begins by knowing redemption facts. God paid the price for you in Christ two thousand years ago. Everything Jesus did in His death and resurrection was

done for you, or as some translations say, “in your behalf.  You could say Jesus gets the glory for everything that has been done, but you get the credit because He was acting in your behalf.

Satan’s dominion over mankind has been permanently broken because of what Christ has done. Redemption is not a temporary thing that must be added to by man or replaced later by something more effective. The Amplified Bible calls it, “A complete redemption, and an everlasting release.” (Hebrews 9:12) An everlasting release means it lasts forever. God has left nothing out.

Confession: All that I need is supplied in Christ. My past, present, and future have been taken care of.  My spirit, soul, and body have been taken care of all because of what Jesus has done for me!

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VICTORY IN CHRIST

The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto

 the simple. (Psalm 119:130)

You are who God says you are; you can do what God says you can do; you can have what God says you can have!

Mark Hankins

My dad and mom pastored a full gospel church in West Columbia, Texas for more than 50 years.  When my parents first moved to West Columbia, I was only a year old and my older brother, Mike, was four. Mom was sick and mentally tormented for two years. Dad not only pastored the church, but also had the pressure of all the family responsibilities. Dad began to have heart trouble. The church was small and struggling, and we were poor.

However, in the middle of this struggle a man gave my dad some books on the authority of the believer, the integrity of God’s Word, and who you are in Christ.  Dad began to read and study the material and gained a new understanding of God’s Word. Dad began to speak the Word to Mom and had her repeat it after him. She began to say, “I am who God says I am. I have what God says I have. I can do what God says I can do!” As my parents saw who they were in Christ and spoke the Word, faith arose in their hearts. They knew that victory belonged to them in every area of their lives.

Confession: Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

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HAVE A BOLD CONFESSION

…full recognition and appreciation and understanding and precise knowledge of every good [thing] that is ours in [our identification with] Christ Jesus. (Philemon 6  Amplified)

Never run at your giant with your mouth shut!

Mark Hankins

You need a bold confession of who you are in Christ. Faith must have a bold confession in order to work properly.  E.W. Kenyon said, “The reason that the majority of Christians are weak, though they are earnest, yet they are weak, is because they have never dared to make a confession of what they are in Christ. 

In 1 Samuel 17, David made some bold declarations as he ran toward Goliath. He was no longer just thinking of himself; he had identified with Almighty God. He had declared his covenant with God. David did not go to the battlefield and say, “I am going to see what will happen today. No, David declared ahead of time that the victory was his.

You must acknowledge who you are in Christ for your faith to work. Just like David, you too can declare ahead of time that victory is yours in Christ!

Confession: Victory is mine in Christ! I am identified with Christ, the triumph of Christ, the risen Christ. I reign in victory with Him!

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